I Don't Cry
by Lightning-Dono
Summary: Wanted romance. Despair. Unlimited sacrifice. Tears. All because fame got to a certain hero's head. [SonicAmy]
1. Flashback, Pain, and a Lie

**Lightning-Dono**: The little poem thing in the beginning...ignore it. This one I PROMISE to finish, 'kay? SLIGHT OOC.

I Don't Cry **  
Author**: You should know.**  
Disclaimer**: o.o I'M YUJI NAKA! LOLZ! No.  
Amy is sick and tired of Sonic being with a certain bat all of the time, so she lies to herself about her love...

* * *

_I don't cry_

_-_

_Because tears are said to be for the weak_

_- _

_and those who have lost hope_

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_Even though I have_

_-_

_I don't cry_

_-_

A jealousy-driven, pink teenage hedgehog stared enviously at a certain blue hedgehog as he spoke adamantly with Rouge. Amy knew deep in her heart that there wasn't any chemistry happening there, but she couldn't help but notice how genuinely _happy_ he looked. Sure, Sonic didn't look miserable when he was around Amy, but whenever she saw him with another girl, she suddenly saw everything about him that somehow connected to the presence of that other female.

At the moment, all Amy knew was that she wanted Sonic to stop talking to the woman she suddenly vowed on the spot never to lay her eyes on. That cool complexion, the make-up adorned visage...she wished it would all just vanish from the wells of her mind. Amy couldn't possibly focus on Sonic like this, especially when she was being distracted by such a minor detail.

-

**Flashback**

-

_Amy's eyes were studded with salty tears, suspended there, giving her eyes a dramatic glitter that made Sonic want to hug her...but he couldn't. There was someone else he loved, but he wasn't sure. _

"_You've known me for YEARS!" Amy shrieked at him, the tears that had held their stable position for so long spewing out onto her cheeks, wiping away all radiance that stupid, rip-off soap had given to her cheeks. That soap didn't even work right – instead of making of making her glittery it made her so shiny she looked like a radioactive, love-stricken zombie. "And how long have you known HER? ONE WEEK?" This hadn't been an argument she had wanted to have. It really hadn't been, but it just all came out when she saw him with that despicable bat. For the hundredth time, lying on her stomach in bed, she prayed silently into her pillow that he might not like her. Now she knew that the hours she had spent worrying would never amount to anything – her efforts were in vain. Sonic loved Rouge and that was that. Amy swore that it was pure lust, glaring at Rouge with contempt every time the voluptuous woman stepped foot infront of her face. She simply wouldn't have it; what seventeen-year old girl hasn't experienced a sentimental setting atleast once? The more she thought about, the more her hopes drained away. _

"_Look, Am'," Sonic said uncomfortably, scuffling the dirt with a shoe, looking like he was about to run off any second. "It's not what it looks like." He felt weak and vulnerable in an environment with such high emotions brewing about. Even worse, this was all making him feel guilty. **I shouldn't be feeling guilty because I like someone! **__he thought. _

_Amy leered at him, even though it felt like she was looking through an over-fogged window. "And what do you think it looks like?" She stuck out her fingers one by one to count off the proof. "You hang around her all the time...whenever you see her, you speed away to be with her...when I arrange a date, you ditch me and I find you with her...You ignore me when I try to say something just so you can listen to her honeyed voice..." Amy was beyond tears now – she was just plain MAD. "Then there was that one time you were hugging her after her breakup with Knuckles and told me to go away when I came over to comfort her...Nothing going on there." The hint of sarcasm in her voice was lost in a wild torrent of boiling tears. She shook them from her eyes, angrily bashing herself mentally for her foolishness. **What made you think he would understand? **Amy thought fiercely to herself, gripping her hammer instinctively. She could feel Sonic's stance switch as he shifted his foot in another direction. _

"_She was crying!" Sonic yelled incredulously. "Did you expect me to stand there and watch her?" _

_This drove the pink girl over the edge. "I'm crying right NOW!" She screamed into his face, her high-pitched voice tapering at the end to form a single, ringing note. "I don't see you hugging me, you insensitive JERK!" With that, she had run off, dropping her hammer into the soft dirt. _

_-_

**End Flashback**

-

That was a month ago, a month that she had hidden in silence away from the rest of the world as she watched everyone interact with each other...without her. The fact that no one seemed to notice her absence was upsetting, but atleast she could see them smile again. Now she was standing in the same position as she was before – on a sidewalk filled with various Mobians migrating back and forth. And once again, she was witnessing an event she hoped to never see again. That argument hadn't meant anything. It didn't even hinder Sonic's growing love life as far as she could tell, but instead helped it to expand to horizons of which she wouldn't have even dreamed it would stretch to.

Amy unleashed a bitter, twisted smile at the couple and walked away slowly. She wasn't going to sugarcoat another thing about Sonic.

Walking at a staggering pace down the brick-constructed sidewalk that was stained with gum and tobacco, she felt the vivid memories flow back. _Look at how much pain you've caused me,_ she thought. Amy had heard somewhere that if you think something long enough, then the reality of it would fade away. If only she could use such an uncomplicated method on her problems and rid herself of the misery she felt.

"I don't love you, Sonic," she whispered.


	2. Heartless

**Lightning-Dono**: Things will start getting interesting from here on out...It kind of switches back and forth between Sonic and Amy, so don't expect JUST Amy. Oh, and if you were wondering why it says this fanfic is a Sonic x Amy, it's because that's the predominant pairing. Once again, a poem is at the beginning. It's just a small stanza. Tons 'o dialogue in this chapter!

Answers to the Reviews 

**RemedyTheThief** – Yes...Poor Amy...I really feel bad for her since I have a feel for this subject -coughcough- HOPELESSROMANTIC -coughcough- and...it's sad. Thank you!

**Shadow's Dark Angel **– Wow! I didn't think this story conveyed such powerful emotion as to make you want to cry! I'm getting on with the updating! Hang on tight! –types faster-

**Virtually Forgotten** – Aw, but that would ruin the plot if I told you the triangles, right? ;) Actually, I haven't figured out the entire plot yet, but since romance plays a dominant position in this fanfic, you can expect more love and jealousy!

**Whinnie** cries for Amy- ;.; SANKYUUU!

**Inferno-Hero** – "Sometimes" read:o Just kidding. Thank you and I'm updating now!

-

When I picked this path

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It wasn't supposed to be this painful

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_The nights I spent crying _

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_Would never be worth it _

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_Because now I know _

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_That you aren't worth my tears _

-

"Did you see her?" Rouge interrogated, watching the pink and red menace take the street by storm, whipping herself around the corner so fast it was like watching a twister. She had been supposedly going out with Sonic for the past couple of weeks, although she was still puzzled about the range of their relationship. Rouge saw him only as a friend, after all, she had learned her lesson after Knuckles had chucked a diamond at her forehead and shoved her out the door when she had asked for more jewels.

"See who?" Sonic asked, his hands clutching Rouge's arms, like he was afraid to let go.

The bat's mouth pursed in concern, subconsciously giving Sonic an odd stare. _She was right there. What's up with him? And why is he touching me! Ewww..._ "Well, Amy was just-," she was interrupted loudly by Sonic who had opened his mouth to contradict her statement the moment Amy's name made it's appearance into their conversation.

"Must've been someone else." His eyes shimmered with renewed energy as he watched her bat her eyelashes in disdain at him. _Finally, someone who'll struggle! It makes winning them over all the more fun._

Rouge watched the eagerly awaiting man before her nervously before turning her head slowly in the other direction. "I have to go do something," she said, smacking Sonic in the face with a sturdy wing. When he took a step forward, as though following her, she intoned, "On my own."

"See ya later, then!" Sonic zoomed off, his feet carrying him over the winding trails and hulking hills that bulged from the ground like the humps from a camel's back. He felt so alive, so free as an anxious young girl that always tagged along with him no longer pursued him wherever he went. He didn't even want to deal with the groveling look she gave him every time they met. It was like watching a mere peasant follow around the king with his arms outstretched in hopes for a bag of grain to drop aimlessly into his embrace.

Everyone wondered why Sonic had to move on and push so many people out of his life just to get what he wanted. A few years ago, he hadn't been so self-absorbed as to force others into such embarrassment that they couldn't even step out of their homes. "But time changes everyone," he constantly argued to those who dared to step in his way and question his attitude. "I'll bet you weren't the same innocent child you were when you were three." This message sent many into a stricken state and soon after, Sonic had made more enemies than murdering lunatics had in a year.

A flurry of dark, goldenrod fur accompanied by an energetic swish of a white tail flew smack into Sonic's face.

"Hi there, Sonic!" Tails said cheerily, prancing along with Sonic (and failing miserably to keep up) as his former best friend raced up a path that was generously sprinkled with gravel. "Nice day, isn't it?"

The blue hedgehog laughed. "Since when has it not been a nice day?"

"Listen," Tails said, stopping his buddy by setting a hand on Sonic's hard-working shoulder. "I've heard something going around lately that you might be interested to hear. That is, if you plan to listen to me instead of cleaning out your ear."

"Gossip Boy now, are you?"

The fox sighed in annoyance. "Sometimes I wonder how I put up with you and all your silly vanities. But that would be straying off of the subject. I've heard-," Tails lowered his voice to a barely audible whisper, "-that Amy's been crying a lot lately."

"How would anyone know that?" Sonic said curtly, a pinky stuck down his left ear and twisting back and forth like a screwdriver unsuccessfully pushing in a nail.

Tails watched Sonic's hand idly, as though he were resisting the urge to leap up and shove that irritatingly long finger down through Sonic's skull. "For the love of Pete, Sonic, she's a singer! She misses one tour and the news is out there spreading like wildfire!"

"But that doesn't mean we need to care. Maybe she's just going through a midlife crisis."

"Sonic, she's seventeen."

"Tails, I'm older than you AND her. What she's trying to pull is ridiculously – she's probably spreading those rumors in hopes that I'll know about it and be more attracted to her."

This struck an ugly chord in Tails' mind, and it blew off a few soda bottle caps and like a brewing volcano, Tails erupted.

"YOU'RE HEARTLESS!" He shouted, his voice at a horrifically loud volume. "I-I can't believe you were my idol! I've always wanted to be like you, ever since I first met you!"

"If you're going to continue this, I'll just leave!" Sonic yelled. "I've suffered atleast ten of these this year ALONE."

"Don't leave! I want you to know the truth!" Tails pinned Sonic to the grassy hillside, pressing him into the hard dirt. Sonic's barbs bit sharply into the dry soil, sinking through lethargically. "You have no heart, do you? What happened to you?" Tails looked ready to start sobbing and whining all over the ground. "What made you BECOME this monster?" He thrust a rock at the ground in his rage, it narrowly missing Sonic's head. The hedgehog didn't seem to struggle, but instead seemed rather amused by this display of emotion.

"I have a heart, Tails. I'm just afraid to show it. For so long, I was known as world-renowned hero Sonic the Hedgehog, showing no fear and cowardice. If I don't act tough, people will think I've gone soft." His eyes wandered for a moment. "You're my best bud. Understand just that and you know me better than anyone."

Tails shook his head dispiritedly. "No. Amy understands you better than anyone. She knows you're a good person, Sonic. Not because you're the valiant hero that always strikes with speed and protects the people. The reason why she likes being with you is that you give her strength. But for a second...I thought she was wrong." The enmity returned to the teenage fox, and his eyes hardened. "Dammit..." He muttered, his arms shaking.

"What?"

The volcano spewed a river of lava. "You've been ignoring me! For what, a year! Whenever I come up with something that I hope to use and aid you in your quest to defeat Eggman, you turn deaf ears on me!" He drew in a shuddering breath and continued his spiel. "I lost my best friend to a stupid mask that he keeps wearing and JUST when I believe I've gotten him back! I don't think I can trust you anymore! When you have heart, you show it! Only those who have none dare to shield themselves against attack and disguise themselves with innocent lies such as the one that you just told me! I knew the Sonic that wasn't afraid to reveal his true feelings! I KNEW HIM!" Tears splashed across the ground. Angry tears filled with malice the young adult had felt for the past months. "I just wanted you to know," he gasped, slowly getting up and removing his tight grip on Sonic's arms that had produced a slight reddening. "That Amy wasn't the only one you hurt."

The shocked blue hedgehog, coated in short-cropped velvety fur, watched as the person whom he had called 'best friend' for years leave him behind.


	3. Encouragement

**Lightning-Dono**: Wow, thanks for the reviews, everyone! Oh, and I just thought I'd address something. The people cry a LOT because...it's something you do in shock sometimes when you're angry. Besides, it's better than Tails pinning Sonic to the ground and getting so pissed he chucks a rock at Sonic's head and kills him. o.o;

Answers to the Reviews 

**Sean** – Um...Okay. I don't go by that, so...um...okay? But I'm glad you like it and think it's "hilarious". oO;

**Shadow's Dark Angel** – Updating! –doesn't want Shadow coming after her- Hey, I'm doing this in the midst of half a billion school projects! xP

**RemedyTheThief** – Tee-hee, who knows what turns it will take? But I can guarantee that Rouge won't be with Sonic for TOO long...Yes, Sonic is heartless. :( He's one of my favorite characters (Next to Tails), but I thought I'd portray him differently since they've grown up. And Tails stands up to Sonic more! Besides...the fame must be getting to Sonic.

**Whinnie** – xD Go you! –sticks Sonic inside an empty oyster shell and seals it.-

**Inferno-Hero** – I'm glad you like this fic! Heh, I have a lot of interests. :P Yaaay for "selective" readers!

**sonicfangrl12** – Yeah, he deserves that in THIS story. Personally, I love Sonic. :) Thank you! I'm glad you like the story.

**inuhinamoongirl** is flattered- Thank you! I'll be writing more...MUCH more...Little do they know that this is going to become more of an adventure than they think.

_-_

_I show my heart to you _

_-_

_Only to have it rejected _

_-_

_Little did you know _

_-_

_That was the last chance you had _

_­-_

A fluffy, hot pink pillow with pale cherry lace lanced off the opposite wall from where Amy sat on her bed, curled up in a fetal position. She was wearing wrinkled, sky blue pajamas that had a pattern of Sonics on them. Along with this ensemble, she was also wearing dark eyeliner, nothing less of a stereotypical goth's, and a black hair band she had scavenged from her attic. Amy felt that if she wore the Sonic pajamas to bed, she would feel better and be on good terms with Sonic. It was all wishful thinking, of course, seeing as the more she looked at them, the angrier she felt about the condition of their friendship.

They had been friends for years, ever since he had managed to save her from a rampaging robot Eggman had managed to unleash on her, just to lure Sonic. Now, whenever she so much as waved at him, his mouth would take on the form of a twisted paperclip and he would move his fingers in the vague position of a wave. Some friend he was.

"Oh well...It's been a whole day. Maybe he's gotten over himself," Amy muttered to herself, slipping slowly out of her large bed and staring at herself in the mirror on the wall. She was an absolute mess. Her eyeliner looked more like she had smeared black ink all over the edges of her eyes and her pajamas seemed awfully large suddenly. "I'm turning into a monster...Just because of him." Amy rushed into the bathroom, simply to tear off her wretched pajamas and put on something that would atleast make her happy.

-

Tails found himself punching in Amy's number in his cell phone, angrily jabbing like a lunatic bee trying to sting something. He'd had just about enough of Sonic, and knowing that someone out there was atleast sharing these spiteful feelings made it easier for him to live it down. The dull ringing repeated for a while before he heard someone pick it up.

"Hello?" Came a misty reply from the other end of the line.

"This is Tails, and I called to talk about...you-know-who."

"Tails, is this about Sonic?"

The fox searched his mind for possible outcomes of another person that could be referred to as 'you-know-who' at the moment other than Sonic. "Yes," he breathed. "It is."

He heard a frustrated growl from the other end.

"Call me back," Amy said with a voice that she couldn't seem to keep from shaking. There was a click and the dial tone shot into Tails' eardrums.

Dropping the cell phone, disgruntled, onto a mahogany table that lay before him, strewn with various objects, he sighed.

"Looks like I'll be paying a visit to the mansion."

-

In the bathroom, Amy was staring fervently at the phone, as though fearing that it might ring again. She had been crying, and the last thing she needed was for anyone to call and hear a teary voice coming from a successful singer. It was times like this that she longed to unleash her spleen upon something that could feel pain – most preferably the person that caused it.

Like chimes on a windy day, the doorbell rang.

Groaning and hastily wiping away the miscellaneous make-up off with a towel, she pulled herself from the edge of the bathtub and tumbled down the stairs. Everything around her seemed so fake and artificial, like the life behind it wasn't really there. Even the iridescent colors of her newly woven rug that lay in the living room looked plain. Unlocking the front door, she yanked it open to find a Tails that looked like he had undergone more than enough growth spurts. He was now several inches taller than she was and wore a utility belt around his waist. A screwdriver, a pocket of nails, a wrench, and some odds and ends were in it, bulging it out awkwardly.

"Listen, Amy, I really need to talk to you!" Tails whispered urgently, bouncing up and down on the balls of his feet. "And don't close the door in my face," he added quickly as Amy prepared to push the door back into place. "I'll just stand here all day and ring the doorbell until it breaks."

"Right, and I'll be upstairs listening to all the pretty sounds," Amy replied grumpily, welcoming him in with a dispirited gesture of her arm. Tails walked in excitedly and sank into the nearest love seat facing the TV, watching his reflection on the blank screen.

"So, what did you want to talk about?" Amy questioned, sitting down next to him.

Tails nervously helped himself to a mint candy sitting in a cute little dish on the coffee table. Fumbling around with it in his hands, he said, "Well, it's Sonic...you know how he's been avoiding us?"

The girl stiffened. "Yeah?"

The wrapped from the mint fell off and Tails popped it into his mouth, playing around with it by moving it from cheek to cheek. "He claims it's just a cover-up for who he really is. I swear, it's like a teddy bear dressing up in armor ten times too big – he keeps thinking that if he shows his true self then everyone will think he's gone soft."

"Is it such a bad thing?" Amy asked quietly, tears returning to her lime-green eyes. "To go soft?"

Tails shrugged indifferently. "My point is that we need to pull him out of that mode."

"But...If he wants to be that way, who's to stop him? No one's stopped him before from being a super hero. Not Eggman, Shadow..." Her voice grew sour. "...Rouge..."

"I don't care! I want my old friend back!" Tails exclaimed, sending the maid working in the kitchen jumping miles into the air. "If we can't get him back, he'll just be a shell!" He paused dramatically. "And I don't want my hero become that."

Amy was beginning to see some point in this. Ever since their argument, she only thought of him as a traitorous brat that did whatever he pleased, but she knew it had to end here. Amy just couldn't let herself be toyed around by someone like this.

"All right! I'll help you!" Amy cried, throwing her arms around Tails, catching him by surprise. "I'm so glad to have a friend like you!"

_Talk about mood swings_, Tails thought, but despite this, he was happy. _I've pulled one person out of their misery. Now I can try and save my friend._

"But you know what the sad thing is?" Amy said. The funny thing was that her voice seemed happier than the words she spoke.

"What?"

"He goes around saving people while he needs the most saving himself. Is that what makes a true hero?"

Tails grinned. "I don't know, but if that's what makes a true hero, I'm sure glad I'm not one." Without delay, he had marched Amy out of her home. "Let's go!"

Amy smiled boldly at him, giving him a playful shove in the shoulder. "Let's do it."


	4. Valor

**Lightning-Dono**: THANK FOR THE REVIEWS, PEOPLE!

**Answers to the Reviewers **

**Sky the Hedgehog **– What's with the maniacal laughter:P I'm really glad you liked it, since you said that you'd never seen one that you liked. Sonic rules! But he's the bad guy now. xD Don't worry, he'll undergo a change of heart...

**Shadow's Dark Angel** – Thank you so much! Oh, yes, I have plans for Shadow's return...:) Don't you think it's proper for the Master of Angst to come in? xD

**inuhinamoongrl** – Tee-hee, of course you were up there! All of my reviewers are special to me. -grin- I'm glad you like it! All of this just motivates me even more!

**Inferno-Hero** – xD Oh, great! But I'm sure they'll have a bad time trying to figure out how this would fit into an enjoyable plot. Then again, you said 'bad authors', so...

**RemedytheThief** – Tails is awesome, isn't he:D Thank you, thank you, THANK YOU! This chapter doesn't have much Sonamy suggestion, but it acts as a point in which the action starts...Wow, this is great...-flushes a deep red out of embarrassment-

_-_

_It's not my fault _

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_That you left me here _

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_I'm beginning to feel_

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_The pain of abandon_

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_And the fear that's been held captive_

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_Deep inside me_

-

Sonic had been waiting for a whole two hours for Rouge to arrive at the café, and quite frankly, he had grown tired of tapping his toe and fingers. His coffee became colder and he wasn't getting any younger, either. For the past one hundred and twenty minutes, he had daydreamt and planned how he would react once she arrived. That is, if she ever arrived.

"When is she going to come?" Sonic grumbled, staring at the sidewalk through glass that desperately needed washing. "I scheduled it to be at two o'clock. What the hell is she doing!" He jerked his knee upwards and it hit it painfully against the table.

A capped, gruff looking wolf smoking a pipe took the seat infront of him that had been meant for Rouge.

"Hello, laddie," the wolf addressed cheerily, blasting smoke into Sonic's face. Sonic held his breath momentarily until the visible wisps of smoke disappeared. Suddenly he wished that he had never invited Rouge here. "The name's Drake. Just Drake." He took a deep breath that sounded very constricted and put the pipe back into his mouth.

Sonic felt like saying, "I didn't ask for your name. Or for you to sit there, blowing smoke in my face." But it seemed so rude, especially to such a homely fellow that was just looking for some conversation.

"Hey, Drake. How's everything?" It seemed too familiar, but since Drake seemed pretty old, he probably didn't mind as long as respect was given. The aged wolf flicked his hat up to give Sonic a dull, bored gaze with a pair of chocolate eyes.

"Horrible. I wouldn't be surprised if we were sitting in hell right now."

The hedgehog was mentally taken aback, but he kept his proud mien. Now that Drake mentioned it, everything did seem kind of hot...Sonic nervously threw his head towards the counter where steaming cups of coffee were spouting from a dispenser. People lined were around it, smoking and exchanging gossip...He was fighting the urge to leave when a certain bat stepped into the burning abyss, looking out-of-place with her light magenta eye shadow and dark purple outfit.

Drake took a long sip of a dark liquid that lay in his mug, watching the back of Sonic's head. "That's quite a girl there." He chuckled half-heartedly and continued on his pursuit to finish the mug of unmentionably bitter stuff.

Sonic ignored the comment, slipped out of the seat, and headed towards Rouge, who was watching the men around the counter with such interest that Sonic couldn't bear it anymore. His legs seemed to work like a clock; they seemed to be moving all too slow for his liking, but he got there faster than his brain expected.

"Finally, you're here," he said, trying to hide the impatience in his voice with something that seemed less strained. "I've been waiting for such a long time." Sonic let his arm slither around her waist until he was constricting her breathing.

The young woman shook him off disgustedly, her lips looking rather disfigured as she gave him a resentful look. "We're not starring in a sappy movie, Sonic. I'm only here because you told me to come. Two o'clock simply wouldn't do, so I figured that I'd come at a later time." She placed a hand on her hip and watched one of the guys wink suggestively at her, keeping his eyes far below her face. "My, my, aren't we sexy," she commented, winking back slowly at him.

"So, do you want to go someplace?" Sonic asked uncomfortably, noticing that Rouge was seemingly entranced by a bunch of rough looking guys that looked as though they had been thrown into the street for a few months, they were so gaunt and ragged.

Rouge reverted her attention back towards the matter at hand. "Oh, yes. I got myself a movie ticket for The Raven. The movie starts in half an hour, so I should get going...grab a few snacks...hop into the movie theatre..."

"Do you want to go someplace _together_?" Sonic rephrased, feeling his leg twitch involuntarily. This was what he got for standing still in one position for over two minutes.

"You can buy yourself a ticket, if you want, and come with me," Rouge said with a dismissive air, flaunting her cool manner and grinning.

Sonic dragged her out of the cafe by the arm, feeling a destructive force rise in his mind.

"What were you doing in there?" Sonic shouted, feeling his energy being drained with that one movement of his vocal cords. He realized that Rouge demanded much more than just his attention – she wanted him to compete with other men for her.

"Oh, cool it. Let a woman have some fun, won't ya? Anyway, we're going to Wolverine Theatre. See you there." She took off, not once turning to look at the dumbfounded hedgehog left behind on a crowded street.

-

Meanwhile, Tails and Amy were hiking a lonely path that was strewn with trees, shading out the blue of the sky.

"How do you expect to get him back?" Amy inquired, kicking at a rock that had tumbled her way. They were proceeding uphill to where Tails had built his personal base and home.

"I'm not sure, but we can't make it too quick. He needs to understand how tormenting he's made our lives." Tails snorted. "If he's even going to listen to us angst about it."

Amy smashed her fist down into her left hand's palm, yelping with happiness. "I know! We can trick him into it. Make something happen that'll make him regret doing this to us!"

"I'm sure he's done a lot of regretting already, Amy. He knows that he's been doing something wrong, but he's too thick to fix it." Tails' voice was bitter and it made his throat choke up, like he was swallowing a dose of Amy's herbal medicine. "Either way, we have to formulate a plan that will bring him back for good!"

"Can't we just cleanse his mind by using my meditation techniques?"

The dark yellow fox stared at her. "What meditation techniques? You mean that one where you sit cross-legged, clear out your mind, and hum for an hour?"

Amy coughed. "Yes."

"That's to purify the soul and bring internal calm, Amy. It's not going to help with conflicts outside of his body."

They got to the top of steep hill, and there it was. A quaint, technology-deprived looking house that Tails had done a very good job of disguising. The machine in the back used to generate power for his Tornado looked like a lean-to that was set up for putting horses in.

"Xero! XERO!" Tails crowed to no one in particular, his voice carrying out beyond the thick growth of vines and trees, linking all of the great wonders together.

"Who are you calling to?" Amy asked.

"I have a pet monkey," He explained briefly, not going into specifics as to how he even received it. Tails watched the peach tree hooding the house with it's branches intently, expecting a small, brown monkey to emerge from the shadows. Instead of a fleshy animal emerging, out came a roboticized behemoth the size of a tree itself, clanking lethargically towards the both of them.

-

_"Oh, but John!"_ Wailed a miserable, well-dressed widow to a hedgehog that looked suspisciously like a photo-manipulated Sonic. _"Please don't go!"_

_"I must go,"_ replied the hedgehog, removing his hat, lowering it to his abdominal area and bowing deeply. _"Sayonara_** (1)**_, Miyoko-chan _**(2)**._"_ Leaving young lady sobbing uncontrollably into an ancient, tattered handkerchief, he boarded a buggy and as the horses trotted off, he waved somberly at her shaking figure. The woman chased after the buggy desperately, in a scene of utter panic and despair, but hope was lost as the buggy disappeared over a large hill.

Without her lover, she wandered back to her only means of shelter – a worn down shack with invaluable possessions.

White letters, accompanied by a sweet ballad, began to scroll down the screen. Through Sonic's hazy vision (he had been sleeping through the movie), it looked like random words dripping into a black, swirling void.

"Wake up, sleepyhead," Rouge urged, giving him a painful nudge in the ribs from where she sat beside him. "It's bad enough that the movie wasn't worth spit without you snoring through the climax!" This was, in fact, a lie, since the movie didn't really have a climax, but Rouge was inclined to say anything that would arouse the man that was dozing off next to her.

Sonic sighed, rubbing his eyes tiredly and slowly getting up on legs that felt more of less like cooked spaghetti. The world spiraled around him in a dizzying wave of colors, and for a moment, he thought he would be sick. Without hesitation, he trailed after Rouge's slim frame, hunched over and feeling his stomach writhe in a nauseating manner. Sonic didn't dare open his mouth, for he was afraid that he might vomit across the clean, carpeted floor.

"What is wrong with you?" Rouge queried as she lugged him out into the street where he immediately keeled over, face on the ground, breathing heavily. His stomach was churning and it felt like he had just swallowed a fireball. Seeing his unfortunate condition, she knelt over with concern. "Do you need a doctor?"

Sonic's reply was faint. "N-No." He struggled to get up, his legs barely supporting him. "I think I'll go home." His speed lost, he stumbled all the way to the apartment complex he resided in.

-

"What the-," Tails began before Amy fled down the hill, pulling him down with her...except he was running backwards.

"That's Eggman's robot! He must be trying to kidnap us!"

The gears in Tails' mind turned. "Let him kidnap us, Amy!" He could picture it now – Sonic would be informed of the disappearance of his friends and soon remember how much he owed them. Remembering their caliber in his life, he would race after Eggman, save his friends, and be with them once again.

The female hedgehog stared at him with an odd expression on her face. "Are you crazy? Eggman will more than likely kill us before anyone has time to react to the fact that the both of us are missing!"

"Sonic will come and rescue us! Then he'll realize how much he loves his friends when he sees us bound to a metal wall, about to be executed!"

"How much TV have you been watching?" Amy gasped as they continued to run down the hill, Amy's dress encumbering her legs as she clumsily tried to avoid obstacles in their path, such as a tree stump that was conveniently placed in the middle of the narrowest part of the trail.

"I haven't been watching any! This is a plan we can't avoid, Amy!" With that, he let go, walking aimlessly towards the robot, as though stepping forth to be sacrificed.

"TAILS, NO!" Amy screamed, scrambling after her friend, who stood bravely before the robotic horror. A giant metal hand clamped around his thin body, and with one movement of the wrist, Tails vanished into the dark hole that was the robot's mouth.

-

Footnotes 

**(1)** Sayonara – A permanent good-bye in Japanese**  
(2) **'-chan' – A suffix used after a name in Japanese when speaking to someone that is younger and is a child, or for a girlfriend/boyfriend.


	5. Regret

**Lightning-Dono**: Um...here I am? I'm juggling three projects, articles for the school newspaper, and a band concert right now, so I don't have time to update a lot. Which is why this chapter is very short.

**Answers to Reviews **

**Inferno-Hero** – xD -announcer voice- And Tails is out of the ballgame! –ends tone of voice- Oh, don't worry about that. Plots wriggling away from me from burrowed tunnels are what make everything interesting, ne? Yes, all stories are like that. My Language Arts teacher says that you want to keep the reader guessing. :) Knuckles will come in eventually! I just need to find a way to put him in! Oh, don't worry. I won't be updating very fast anymore. -.-

**Shadow's Dark Angel** – Shadow will make his appearance in the new future! Stay tuned for Shadow's eventual appearance! (Sorry, I have a low fever and I feel weird. oO;)

**Sky the Hedgehog** – Don't worry, Amy won't become a goth since it was just messed up make-up. Why and how? Because I said so. :P Hey! Stop predicting story lines:X Just kidding – it was going to be something like that, but last night I came up with something even better.

**inuhinamoongrl** – No sweat! Oh, yes, being kidnapped is ritual for the Sonic cast by now, seeing how much Eggman kidnaps them.

**Ri2** – No, it's not. :) Tails isn't nuts enough to keep a giant robot, mind you.

**Kiozono.pop** – Thank you so much! I'm glad you enjoyed it – I'll be sure to write more!

**RemedyTheThief** – -sighs- Looks like I AM stuck with you! –sob- Just kidding. :P You know I'm not being serious, but if you did, I apologize! ;.; Thank you!

**Sofia** – SANKUUUU! I'm glad you like it!

**sonicfangrl12** – Aw, poor Amy! Don't sacrifice the pink-ness! (I don't like the color, but...eh.) Bye, bye!

**signo the hedgehog** – Thank you! I'm glad you liked the cliffhanger! In reality, Rouge doesn't like Sonic, but he's slowly growing on her, little by little. But truth to be told, if you walked out of the movies and someone collapsed next to you, you'd be a little worried, right?

**ShadowIsCool** – Tee-hee, thanks! I know, isn't Sonic just a little bastard? o.o I know I promised to continue this, but it's really hard with all the work I'm doing.

-

_Judge a man by how he treats his inferiors, not his equals._

-

Dark. The world felt like it was spinning, flames and ice crashing inside a mental picture that transformed into a physical attribute. Miles of jungle disappeared beneath the roaring fire that spread through his body, burning like a million crystals jabbing deeply into his body. Colors from a random, spiraling vortex sucked him into it,

Sonic woke up shaking as though he were suffering from hypothermia when he truly had a fever of one-hundred and four degrees Fahrenheit. A cool cloth was pressed to his forehead, seeping the cold goodness into his inflamed pores. It had been applied before he had collapsed halfway down the stairs on his trek to the kitchen to find the medicine. Upon collapsing from dizziness, he lay for a few minutes at the bottom, pain searing through his nerves. After he had recovered, he had managed to drag himself into the kitchen, where he had seriously considered calling his doctor to pay him a home visit. But that was when he found that his throat was so dry from breathing with his mouth open the whole day it didn't permit him to speak into the phone without him sounding like a dying frog.

After drinking something, because his nose was stuffed and he had run clear out of tissues, he started breathing through his mouth again...which left his throat parched after a total of two minutes.

_This is stupid,_ Sonic thought to himself miserably, suddenly feeling as though someone were clamping his head with a metal hand and squeezing. _I hate this couch. Amy and I sat on it last summer...I hate Amy._

Sonic knew that he was deliberately lying to himself about all of this. Every word he lashed out to his love for her recoiled back at him whenever he saw her face in his mind, her eyes teary and her voice sounding so broken he just wanted to hug her. It seemed as though every time he met her eyes these days, the two jewels instantaneously poured over with a billion, aqua-blue diamonds. But he also convinced himself that he was a new man now, that he no longer wanted to poison his reputation by having contact with losers like his old friends, who shared no ambition. All in all, he felt that they had no life. Everything they did was as futile as that wire Amy had broken at their argument months ago.

He remembered telling her that she could leave if she wanted to bring in her romantic aura into his house, and after resisting, she departed his home and never returned, refusing to even apologize. In her rage, she had snapped the wire from his TV, screaming all the while, and whipped him with it.

Not only had he become partially deaf for a day, but Sonic still had the goddamn, cursed scar on his otherwise unblemished shoulder. Ever since he had first received that sign of loathing, he had feared every lover who came his way, until he saw Rouge. She was a figure in his past that he would never forget – suave, cool, and calm; never filled with lament. The feminine bat was not volatile, so Sonic had been transfigured that no matter how he played his game, she wouldn't hurt a hair on his timid body.

Except Rouge was clearly adding to the already growing number of problems in his mind. Whenever he saw her, she would angrily counter his remarks with something to express her contempt with his existence. Sonic didn't think this was particularly fair, but he didn't do anything to stop it. She was simply cute when she was angry. _Or perhaps_, he thought to himself with scorn, _I'm just afraid of her._

Guilt washed over his timid, fever-bitten mind as he wrestled half-heartedly with this situation. Either he could apologize or leave Amy and his friends thinking he was the little ditcher he really was.

He didn't like the consequences popping up in his mind for the latter.

On legs of slowly dripping jelly, he flopped his way to the phone and carried it back to the couch, dialing the numbers heavily as he did so. _Thud. Thud. Thud._ He was suddenly very aware of the fact that the sound of his footsteps were reverberating throughout his entire home. Sonic sat there, listening intently to the beep on the phone as it tried to connect to the number and urged the person on the other line to pick up.

_"Hello?"_ Crowed a voice that was thick with an Italian-accent. Amy's maid.

"Heyah. This is Sonic the Hedgehog and I would like to speak to Amy Rose."

There was a shuffling noise on the other end, which sounded like the crackling of paper being crumpled continuously. _"I apologize, but the Mistress is not home. I will take a message, though!"_ Came the blithe reply. A pan made collision with another metallic cooking instrument.

"Nah, I'll call back later," Sonic replied, wincing and hanging up before any further damage was made to his eardrums.

Apparently, Amy wasn't there because she was either too mad and went to vent or was having the time of her life elsewhere. Tired, Sonic retired to the pillow and TV, forgetting that the phone was even there. _She'll come here and say something. Knowing her..._

What he didn't know, was that Amy was more likely to get crushed to death than return.

-

I know, it was short and pathetic, but like I said, projects! -cries- I promise that the next one will be better and my writing won't be so bad and riddled with so many grammatical and spelling errors (if there are any, but I bet there are.).


	6. Denial

**Lightning-Dono**: Chapter 6! I know it's been super long since I last updated, but...I was going through a harsh period of Writers Block. Gomen! Gomen! Oh, and I lost track of which reviews I've replied to, so I'll only reply to those that reviewed chapter 5. Sorry!

The quote at the beginning is just something I made up on the spot, so it's not that great.

AND this chapter is VERY lack luster.

**Answers to the Reviews **

**Shadowcrazy46** – Thanks! Shadow isn't going to be coming in anytime soon, I'm afraid, since he doesn't hold a very important part in the plot...I'm not that big a Shadow fan. Sorry! –bow-

**Shadow's Dark Angel** – I didn't update too soon, but I hope this works. xD

**ChrissieGirl** – You'll see! Sonic and Amy will go through some drastic changes as of NOW...

**sonamy-lover** – No, Sonic and Amy are going to suffer before they get together. :P Why? Because they need to learn...a lot. Sorry if this is so short and blunt, but I'm really hungry and I want to get myself something to eat.

**RemedytheThief** – I'm glad you feel so much for this story! I don't mind having you as a reviewer as long as you don't appear at my house one day or something, because that would plain freak me out.

**ShadowIsCool** – Thank you! I'm glad I inspired such a nice skit and comic...thing. :D

**Inferno-Hero** – I understand...I have a project worth 550 points due in Science close to the end of the year, tons of homework...How am I going to survive the rest of the year? Forget that, how will I survive HIGH SCHOOL? –faints-

**Sky the Hedgehog** – I don't know, but if you saw as much pink as I have, I don't think you'd like it either. Don't get me wrong, there's nothing wrong with the color, but it makes me sick sometimes. O.o

**Sofia** – Thank you, THANK YOU! –happy-

**inuhinamoongirl** – Yes...this is very much a "Dun dun DUN" situation.

-

_In life _

_You live for what you get to have _

_And not having what you need to live _

-

Amy felt like someone had reached deep down her throat and gouged out all her innards in one scoop. Her heart felt oddly out of place and her stomach was doing something short of sickening flips around her abdomen. All in all, she was about ready to keel over infront of the robot and allow herself to be carted away to a hospital. Instead, she dropped weakly to her knees and let her mind race, hoping for an idea to enter. The thing was, she couldn't think of anything that could save her now. Everything had become a blur, and the only thing that was occupying her mind was the fact that she was such an ill-fated girl who had decided to leave her most precious weapon at home when she most needed it.

"What was I thinking?" She whispered, a hint of frustration enveloped in her voice that only she could hear. "Letting Tails go like that...Letting him..."

"You're next," growled a voice enhanced mechanically to sound somewhat human. There was a slight crackle as static took over. Even so, it broke through her reverie like an arrow piercing a thin board of oak.

Strength gathered into her wobbly legs – her will to live allowing her to streak away in the opposite direction, paying no mind to the chaos ensuing behind her as the colossal metal monster tore after her. The soles of her boots pounding hard on the gravel that sprayed left and right as her heels came down, the echoing of it was hardly comparable to the reverberating of the racket behind her. In an instant, the world went inverse and a hill rose into her range of vision.

"Oh my God," Amy whispered, her voice dying with her rapidly diminishing hope. "I don't think I can make it..."

Amy turned, only to stare into face of doom as it loomed over her with an astonishing amount of authority. Suddenly, bursting from the speaker system, came Eggman's curt statement.

"At last." She could just imagine his lips curling with satisfaction as he operated behind a shield of fiberglass. As though it had a mind of it's own, the robot extended it's metal arm as fast as Sonic could run. Grasping it's elongated fingers around Amy's fragile figure, it squeezed with the complacency of a vandal that had recently smuggled millions of Rings and had gone uncaught. There was a brief moment where the robot held Amy suspended in thin air, daring her to scream.

"SONIC!" Cried the voice of one forlorn angel.

-

_A meadow stretched before him, a premonition of danger ringing through the air. From behind long, blades of grass, the offender made her appearance, racing out to greet him joyously. _

"_Sonic!" Came a voice filled with levity fueled by love. "Sonic, wait up!" The pink female hedgehog with barbs cropped short had her arm outstretched infront of her, fingers seemingly grasping at the air infront of her. She was making such as effort to catch up to him...but he couldn't let her get him...he couldn't...Not after all the things they had been through. Never again did he want to discuss matters that this lady wouldn't put to rest. _

_"Catch me if you can!" He taunted wholeheartedly, legs propelled by nothing but a false idea that if he got away, she would disappear from his life. "Come and get me!" Sonic followed up with a laugh that rang through the air like a thousand church bells._

_In a matter of a few seconds of this wild chase, Amy's face was filled with a look of pure horror as a snake of large proportions coiled around her leg, inching it's way up her body. It's mouth opened with malicious pleasure, it's forest green scales rustling ever so slightly as it's beady eyes inspected its prey. Amy's complexion went from tan to the equivalent color of an orange shirt that had been bleached multiple times. _

_"Please don't bite me..." Came the frightened murmur that brought Sonic to his senses._

_"Hey," he said in an oddly calm voice that signified his uncaring nature. "Let her go."_

_But this slimy reptilian creature couldn't seem to resist. It's peppery-red tongue flickered out once, nostrils flaring in preparation to take in this girl...one piece at a time. It flexed the muscles in it's jaw once before leaning back, poised to strike relentlessly. _

_"HELP ME, SONIC!" As she let out her final desperate wail, the snake sank its fangs deep into her flesh, warm blood gushing from the young woman's arm and trickling down towards her elbow in a sickeningly wide stream..._

Sonic woke up in a cold sweat, his blankets thrown aside with one leg resting on the top of the couch, the other leg on a cushion, and his head tilting off the couch itself. His pale skin was ringed with droplets of sweat that had formed in his sleep during his unconscious struggle to escape from an obsessive woman. One inch further and he would've fallen clear off of the couch and slammed into his coffee table.

"What could've made me have such a horrible dream?" Sonic muttered, eyes fixed on the ceiling, as though the answers were patterned somewhere on the milky white cover of his house. _I can't just ignore it. Amy might be in trouble...What am I talking about? I'm not supposed to care about her. Nothing I can do can change her mind, anyway. Just because she wants me to do her will doesn't mean I'm forced to fall to obey her every command..._As much as Sonic attempted to deny this, he believed strongly in the practice of chivalry. He couldn't just simply ignore the impending danger of a former friend of his, even if he still had his mind set on holding a grudge.

_But there's nothing I can do in my condition...nothing. But I can try._

Attempting to get up, Sonic planted his hands firmly on the floor and expected his powerful leg muscles to pump him back up into his regular standing position. Instead, his head tilted backwards loosely, like it was seeking moral support from the cushions.

_Damn, it's no use! I can't even stand up...I can't help my friends..._


	7. Corrupt Hero

**Lightning-Dono**: Yay, I had inspiration, so I decided to write this chapter. It's not extremely long, but it'll do.

**Answers to the Reviews **

**Sky the Hedgehog** – Gomen, gomen! I'm sorry that I couldn't elongate the chapter, but I REALLY have Writer's Block right now and I'm just trying my hardest to get it update so people who have me on Author Alert won't think I decided to quit or something...My friends like pink...well, some of them do! Then again, you're a guy, so it kind of comes as a different story...xD Thank you for the compliment on the chapter! Yes, the dream meant something, but it's really quite obvious if you read the whole chapter and not just the italicized parts...:P

**Shadw** – You'll see in this chapter! Everything you asked...and sorry if I don't update soon enough! My grades are on the line.

**Sofia** - I feel bad for Amy, tooo...Sonic always considered them his friends, but he's kind of in denial. You'll understand in this chapter. :) I hope this update was quick enough!

**seastone130** - Thanks! Um...no need to go insane! I'm updating!

-

_Just because I want to be loved _

_Doesn't mean I want to love_

-

A sensation of drowsiness swept over the poor, golden fox as he lay, paralyzed and constrained to the dull, gray walls of this moving, miniature fortress. It had been merely moments before that he had been tossed into this heavily wired room and bound religiously to the wall by Eggman, who could have used the same motions he had to toss flower petals into the air.

Tails recalled a faint piercing in his upper thigh as Eggman injected a powerful dose of sedative to put him to sleep, and further more, enough to freeze his muscles of a certain amount of time. It felt strange to be an onlooker to a world of varying shades of silver and not be able to move an inch while live wires curved around on the ceiling. With every moment of the robotic creature he was captured inside of, Tails kept picturing the wires sailing to the ground and electrocuting him. While nothing of the sort had happened so far, he couldn't feel too safe – especially in the presence of a man who would go to extreme measures to get what he fancied.

"And now," announced Eggman with a voice brimming with pleasure. Pleasure that Sonic would once have given up anything to never see or hear of. But now, Tails couldn't even tell anyone where his best friend was. It was as though they had been separated at the capillaries of a river, drifting slowly away...The indignant voice of the fat man popped Tails' steadily wandering thoughts. "We bring in your friend!" With the pressing of a red button on the control panel, a hatch in the proximity of the robot's mouth opened and a red-dressed young lady was thrust in.

"Amy?" Tails said, staring at the lump of a body that was lying there; out-of-breath and looking like the apocalypse had just occurred, Amy lifted her head painfully.

"Tails...help me...Sonic...he isn't coming. He won't come...He said he wouldn't...he was running away from me..." Whispered the sadistic tone that was released from her throat.

The fox held his breath for a moment, thinking about what this may have meant. Amy couldn't have seen Sonic – if she had, Sonic wouldn't have left to begin with. Nothing of the sort would have happened had the blue hero been on patrol.

"Are you sure you saw him?" Tails questioned in a state of hidden panic, feeling his frozen muscles tense even further...so much that it was beginning to grow painful. "Are you sure?"

Being the lording tyrant he was, Eggman found that this was the best time to intervene with their attempt to communicate with each other. Amy's jade eyes were beginning to lose their life as the girl lost strength to stay conscious, which came as no surprise after getting every breath squeezed out of her lungs by the robot's fist.

"Why don't we go ahead and tie you both up to the walls until I complete my plan?" Eggman said with a cynical touch, retrieving a needle from his pocket, dipping it into a testing tube of clear liquid, and unceremoniously stabbing it into the flesh of Amy's upper right arm. She woke with a start, only for a second, before her head drooped slowly onto the ground, looking as peaceful as can be. A small drop of blood trickled from the small prick of a needle, snaking its way to the ground.

"Why don't you just leave her alone?" Tails suddenly yelled, strength regained and still watching the helpless girl being carried over Eggman's shoulder to a spot around a yard away from his. "She did nothing to you! And while I'm at it, I may as well point out that I did nothing wrong, also!"

Shackling Amy to the wall, Eggman began to reply.

"It isn't a matter of what you have done, it's a matter of who you have been in an alliance with for the past few years! In case you haven't noticed, I've failed time and time again to rid the world of that pesky hedgehog! I've been in hiding for a year, developing an ingenious plan that not even he can stop! Just in case you wanted to know, the plan involves ONLY Sonic's companions. Unless I have been mistaken, you both are."

Tails averted his eyes to the ground.

-

**Flashback **

-

_"Look, Sonic! Isn't this incredible?" Tails exclaimed happily, holding up a can that was filled with an energy drink he had recently developed. "You're always complaining about how tired you've become since the Chaos Emeralds were returned to their rightful place, so I thought I'd make this for you!" He shoved it joyously into his friend's face. Sonic appeared completely unfazed by this feat that Tails had described as "incredible". _

_"Yeah, that's great. I'll drink it later," replied a bored hedgehog who had taken to moping since Eggman disappeared from the scene. _

_"But I want to see you drink it now...Atleast I'll see how well it works if you do."_

_"Go drink it yourself. I'm not feeling up to it." Sonic flipped through TV channels with a look of utmost boredom on his face._

_Tails stared down into the watery depths of the can, contemplating whether or not to down it himself or throw it angrily out the window. What was wrong with his best friend? Sonic had never rejected any product he had made before, and never had he been less supportive of this. Why was he changing this way?_

_"But why won't you drink it?" Tails took to whining as a way to get on his friend's nerves to the point that Sonic had no choice BUT to drink it. "You haven't even had it yet! What if it makes you feel better? All my life, ever since we first met, you told me that you would constantly stand by my side, no matter what. You even promised! So what happened? What happened?" Tears were coming to his eyes. Shit. He had never intended to cry, no matter how much he was beginning to resent his friend's attitude. Why was he acting in a way that demeaned Tails' abilities so harshly? _

_"Because I don't want to! You can say whatever you want, but if I don't feel like doing something, I won't do it! It's that easy, Tails." Sonic appeared out of breath after saying this._

_"You PROMISED!" Tails shouted angrily, salty tears flying from his eyes and splattering onto the carpet as threw the can to the ground, spewing it's contents onto the carpet, staining it an ugly shade of lime green. "Before, you'd keep to every word you spoke!"_

_Sonic took in a deep breath._

_"It's not like before! I'm not getting any younger and I'm tired of everyone treating me like a hero when they should be looking up to you guys! Without you and the rest, I couldn't have defeated half the enemies I had. If you hadn't been there, nothing would have been accomplished. Why don't any of you get publicity? I feel so full of myself all the time and then I realize how you guys must feel!" Sonic's face was no longer the pale, creamy peach color it had been before. Now it resembled a prune. "I'm giving you guys the chance to be known. Isn't that what you all have wanted?" _

_It took a long time for Tails to understand the full meaning of this. So this was all out of guilt? He was lazing about because he didn't want to get in the way of his friends being well-known?_

_"That's not what **I've** wanted!" Tails exclaimed. "I wanted you to be my friend for the rest of my life, but you couldn't do that, could you? You just had to go and do something that's completely against your nature, just because you think we give you more strength and should be better known. If all these years we've been together could've taught you something, I want it to have taught you that we want nothing but the best for you. But apparently, you don't care very much if you've fallen to this level." _

_Tails swished his furry tails into Sonic's face adamantly. _

_"Good bye." _

-

**End Flashback**

-

_To think that it had only happened just last year..._Tails thought to himself silently, filled with the feeling of regret. _How could I just have said bye to him so easily? But that doesn't matter now. What does matter is getting Amy and I out of this mess._

"What made you think we were still pals?" Tails asked, still staring at the ground as though there was some article of interest lying there.

"Eh? So...you're not friends?" Eggman chuckled sinisterly. "How will you go about proving it?"

"He's in the league with Rouge. I'd never work with such a traitorous bat, and you know it!"

"Ah well." The fat man shrugged, jiggling his fat rather unattractively. "All the better for my plan! Atleast now Sonic won't get in my way...all I need are a few more people and it will be complete."

There was a small pause where Eggman continued to man the controls for his huge robot, making it do a three-sixty to face Tails' workshop once more.

"Why do you need Sonic's friends? Former or current?"

Eggman's face was stretched in an oddly lopsided grin that made dimples the size of craters on the moon.

"Because their wills are the strongest."

Tails frowned, trying to figure out what the plan was. "Why do you need people with strong wills? You can't be planning to control them, since you'd need weaker people for that...you can't be experimenting with us since that wouldn't help with anything..."

"Or will it?"

With a slash of the robot's arm and some fire breathing action, Tails' workshop was reduced to a pile of rubble and ash. The fox gasped in horror, a fixed look of shock displayed on his face for all to see.

In a tree behind the downed workshop, a small, chestnut-furred monkey hiding amongst the leaves hooted sadly, searching for his master.


	8. Doomed Love

**Lightning-Dono**: Another update, because I have much more time! Dialogue is a BIG part of this chapter. xD

The quote at the beginning is a couple of lines from Simple Plan's "Addicted".

I know this fanfic has a lot of character parts and everyone is just...everywhere, but it'll all come together eventually.

**Answers to the Reviews**

**Sky the Hedgehog** – It's okay, I'm not a big fan of profanity, either. But my 7th grade Language Arts teacher once said that as much as swear words are detestable, they really convey angry emotions. Tails and Sonic are growing up, and this fanfic isn't so "happy", "Sonic-saves-the-day", because...that universe is really cliche. Nope, I'm just a homophobe, but there's nothing wrong with gay or les people. I dunno, my high school might be different. Okies, see yous!

**WishesAreEternal** – Yes, I see what you mean. xD Sonic was such a jerk. Thank you!

**Shadw** – Yup, Tails is alive! I wouldn't kill off one of my favorite characters, would I? o.o Or maybe I would...it depends. Eggman's mean because despite the ending of SA2B, I still think that if he's a bad guy, he still has it in him. Thank you, and the monkey is the monkey named Xero that Tails was calling for a couple chapters before.

**RemedyTheThief** – xX; My house has no ice cream since we ran out...come again soon! Lol! Yup, I'm going to update since I have a bit of inspiration for this.

**Inferno-Hero** – Aw, I'm sorry! My friend punctured her knee with a nail accidentally when she fell down the stairs. o.o Of course you're not a retard! You're just trying to...live with it.

**seastone130** – Thanks so much! I'll update soon, yes!

**WishesAreEternal** – ATLEAST they're alive – Tails and Amy are pretty much the life of the story, since Sonic is...very inactive in terms of migrating from place to place.

**Akik0** – First off, your username is awesome. Secondly, those reviews really made my day: D I'm glad you like the way I write – personally don't take tremendous pride in it, but hey, I'm the type of person who likes to put down her work so she can get better. xD Yup, they're all a tad bit older! I figured it would give them much time to change, since if Sonic were still 16 or whatever he was before...it wouldn't make much of a difference. So glad you like the fact that she's a singer! I always thought that the songs that her voice actresses sing for her are pretty good, so I figured she should be one...I like Rouge! Then again, it's only because she's sneaky and somewhat intelligent. o.o I've never watched FLCL. Is it any good? I've heard the music, and it sounds odd. xD Tee-hee, Amy being a forlorn angel is just another way for me to describe her. She's the most innocent person in the story other than Tails and she's pretty much alone in her problems. I should stop this unless I want this reply to be longer than the chapter itself. o.0

-

_I tried to make you happy _

_But you left anyway_

_I'm trying to forget that_

_I'm addicted to you_

-

"The nerve of him! I can't believe he just left!" Rouge thought aloud. From behind the skyscrapers that scratched the clouds ever so slightly, the sun was setting in an array of different shades of orange and gold. Years ago, she would have been captivated by such a breath taking view. Now, she was educated enough to know that what she saw here wasn't nearly as genuine and wonderful as it would be had she been at the beach, or in a meadow. As she thought about this, her eyes seemed to be more focused on the gathering pollution that was dense around the airspace of the metropolis.

There was a pause in which Rouge looked down to find a gigantic traffic jam caused by a broken down bus, driven by a rather flustered bus driver who looked like he would faint on the spot if he were approached by another complainer.

"Then again...I let him go...and he was pretty sick." She sighed exasperatedly. "I suppose I should go visit him...I am just too nice." In one hand she held a bag of sequins purchased from an art shop. She had planned to decorate her clothing with them, but as she flew west, she gathered the blue ones into the palm of her hand. "He had better be thankful for this!"

-

There was a sharp knock at the door.

Sonic woke with a start fumbling hazily for his keys that he had placed on the coffee table the night before. Mumbling to himself, he managed to get to his feet, stick the key into the deadbolt, turn the door knob, and gaze at the visitor in wonder.

"What are you doing here?" He asked, his vision bleary and looking like he had just gotten out of a steam bath.

The bat stared. "I just thought I'd check on you," she said slowly, unable to remove her eyes from this horrendous spectacle. No respectable gentleman would open the door for his girlfriend looking like a blob of sweat. "Besides, you probably couldn't handle everything, since you're sick."

"Thanks for caring," Sonic coughed, tramping back to the couch and throwing himself onto it. Lying his metallic blue blanket over his body, he attempted to sleep. However, Rouge wouldn't allow this vital bit of rest. Shaking him awake in a graceful motion, she extended her arm towards him. On the palm of her hand, twinkling with shining colors, were an array of blue sequins, all in different shades.

"W-Why'd you get me _these_?" Sonic questioned, plucking them off her hand one-by-one and holding them up to the light, letting the light lance off the individual sequins onto the walls. "The least you could've done was get me some orange juice...I ran out." He coughed again and dropped the miniscule pile of sequins on the ground.

Rouge stood up haughtily, hands on her hips, her temper rising like the sun did in the mornings. She felt like evaporating all of Sonic's disgusting sweat and scorching him into a fried hedgehog.

"So," she said, her voice raised half an octave, but steadily rising. "You know how to make a woman miserable, don't you?"

The formerly speedy hedgehog sighed and lay his hand on his forehead as a sign of fever. "I'm really tired, Rouge. Could we save this for tomorrow?" Suppressing a monstrously large yawn, he turned over into the cushion and stared into its velvety depths.

A purse whirled through the air at an astonishingly high speed, which, in midair, released a half-empty bottle of nail polish and a bag of unfinished chocolate-dipped raisins.

"I flew all the way from across town, just to check on you!" Exclaimed Rouge, trying to keep her rising voice under control for a moment. However, the hatred still soaked through like a tower that had been flung into a swimming pool. "And frankly if you don't appreciate it, I should have ceased to come at all!"

"Then maybe you should have," Sonic said exasperatedly. "It would've saved you a great deal less of heartache."

"What does _that_ mean?" She asked bitterly, recovering the remnants of a shattered bottle of nail polish and smearing the contents onto the hardwood floor behind the couch as a sign of contempt. "You don't love me anymore because you're sick and I came to give you something so girly? Is that it?"

Sonic sighed and elevated himself slightly to see over the couch's back. "I never said any of that, so you can lower the severity of those assumptions. Jumping to conclusions was never a good thing."

"So, how about you tell me what you _will_ say?" Rouge challenged, her lips pulled back in a smirk that looked more like a maniacal smile.

Sonic tried to sound casual, but he couldn't help but wonder how she could be so crafty. What kind of person would push answers about of someone so forcefully? _She knows that. She's trying to take advantage of my weakness._ "You're not the only one involved in this, you know."

Something clicked inside Rouge's head as she grinned almost painfully.

"Ooh, is this about that Amy chick?" She simpered, watching his expression knowingly. "Don't think you can make me think otherwise – a few months with you and I've got your personality down smack."

"Rouge, don't be illogical," Sonic replied uncomfortable, squirming beneath his blanket like a snake wriggling and shedding worn skin. "I've told you that I don't have any feelings for her anymore." This, of course, was something bordering that of a lie. The thought of Amy being hurt in that dream continued to haunt him, and the only thing Sonic liked about Rouge was the fact that she wasn't whiny. Either way, it was all part of his ploy to eventually get Amy once she realized that he was mature enough to uphold a decent relationship. Then again, he wasn't quite sure this was a good idea. After all, she probably didn't care anymore after his display of rotten emotions towards her in their last few rows.

The bat threw her hands up in the air, relatively close to spewing a bunch of swear words right into her boyfriend's face. "You know what I think of that? It's complete bull. In fact, everything about this relationship is! It's just a phony scam of trying to get your 'true' love to notice, isn't it?"

_How in the world did she read my mind?_

"You read too many romance novels, Rouge." Sonic lied smoothly, holding back the cough that was rising in his throat. "Haven't you realized that I'm the most dependable person, especially towards those I care about?"

Rouge narrowed her eyes. "And you're implying that you care about me?"'

"Of course I do," he replied coolly, carefully avoiding her fiery gaze.

"Look at me," Rouge commanded, her voice leaving no room for nonsense. Nevertheless, Sonic refused to turn. "Look at me!"

The blue hedgehog obeyed and, rather painfully, cast his eyes around her face and perfect body. A few years ago, he wouldn't have cared anything about anyone's appearance, but being famous had introduced him to so many wonderful women. For some reason, he lusted after what they looked like while still remaining eternally loyal to Amy. Sonic was suddenly beginning to think that it was only because their friendship had come so far.

_What about Tails, huh? He's your pal, but you shot him down with cruelty._ Nagged a small voice in the back of Sonic's mind as he attempted to focus more on what Rouge was saying, not his internal thoughts.

"Who do you want more?" She asked, a jazzy sound to her voice that made Sonic's mind immediately shoot to the image of a saxophone. Her voice softened slightly as she repeated it with a look of desperation that was almost too much for Sonic to bear. "I broke up with Knuckles, I'm in denial...I've always claimed to be independent, but I actually really, very much wanted a guy I could be with. Who do you love more? Me, a mature lady who knows how to display her feelings properly or Amy, a girl who's never experienced a single kiss before?"

Silence ensued the room just as quickly as this question had come. For a second, Sonic's mind blanked out in surprise. How could he choose one without hurting the other? Forget that, how could Rouge even ask such a rash question? This was something that was to be answered in the period of a few days, not in a few seconds. But in the end, he was still talking to Rouge, not Amy. A little white lie couldn't hurt.

_It won't hurt now, but it will hurt you in the long run,_ came the devious voice in his mind.

_Oh well. Better now than never – as long as Rouge thinks I love her more..._

"I-I think I like you better," Sonic replied almost fearfully.

That very answer had sealed his doomed love life.


	9. With Attitude

**Lightning-Dono**: Sorry that I haven't written – I can't do ANYTHING on my computer lately since it's being completely bizarre and I haven't been able to get a browser window up. Therefore, in terms of replying to reviews, I can only reply to ones that have reviewed CHAPTER 8.

The italics in the beginning are...just some random thoughts from Rouge in a more poetic way. xD

My writing skills are severely lacking in this particular chapter because I have partial Writers Block and I haven't written in a while.

**Answers to the Reviews **

**sapphiregurl13** – Yeah, he's doomed. It's pretty much downhill for him from here.

**seastone130** – I know, isn't Sonic such an a-hole? But you know, I think Amy should still be with him because that's the way the fanfic goes, PLUS...she teaches him a few things.

**ShadowIsCool** – Doesn't Shadow seem even cooler in comparison to Sonic now that you've read this? Okay, I'm not promoting Shadow-fan boy/girlism, but doesn't Sonic seem to be the type of person who would get into this kind of thing in the future? He's so famous, and famous people always end up hurting someone because of their fame. Reality just works that way...

**Chaos Shadow** – Why, thank you. : D Wow...I would consider this work to be "perfection", but if you think so, you have fueled my desire to write in this more. And you've given me some confidence. I think the Sonamy pairing is done justice in some fanfics, but...that's just me.

**Krystalwolf** – Yes, the doomy needle shall scare ALL. Er, thank you. :)

**Sky the Hedgehog** – I'd hate to break this to you, but Tails is growing up, and so is Sonic. They aren't sheltered little children anymore, they real about life and I'm trying to reflect the fear, lies, and passion of every teenager. I want everyone to see that the both of them aren't "perfect". Sonic won't get through everything easily, Tails isn't going to be cuss/swear-free, Amy isn't going to be constantly happy... Thank you for the compliment, anyway!

**Oreokids87** – Thank you? What did you WANT to say? It kind of cuts off there...

**Inferno-Hero** – Ooh, I want to hear the techno-remix of Gir's doom song:0 Thank you for the compliment, by the way! Yes, revelations...

**Sofia** – What Sonic just said will affect the rest of the STORY. And you know what? Amy isn't going to take this confession easily like she has before, even though she knows that Sonic and Rouge are together. She's always believed that Sonic was just doing it for attention and MORE fame, but if she hears that he truly fell for Rouge...How would you feel? Sorry for not updating "soon". xP

**SonicTU** – Wow, I never expected you to read this: D You hated Sonamy? I never knew that...but it's not very hard to understand. And in addition to that, you SHOULDN'T be jealous! Everyone has their own style of writing and yours is unique to YOURSELF. No one else will ever write the same way you do, so remember that. ;)

-

_A lone rose in the woods_

_You hide in the shadows of comfort_

_Come, he's your sanctuary_

_Come, he's what you've asked for_

_Why run when you can't hide?_

_Conceal your love beyond the candlelight_

_And keep it hidden well_

_I've come to steal it_

_I've come to destroy it_

-

Rouge was as still as a squirrel caught in the headlights of a car, staring, eyes plastered into the whites of Sonic's. She let out a weak, rather hopeless laugh and waved her hand through the air as though she were brushing this whole situation off of her sloped shoulders.

"You'll actually drop Amy this easy? No, wrong term. You think that she'll LET you live it down?" The bat suddenly sounded extremely tense.

"I haven't seen her in a day; that's a clear sign that she's giving up. She used to visit me every single day and hound me in the streets about whether or not I felt the same way about her as she did about me." Sonic shrugged in a dismissive way. "I have you now. Does it matter that much?"

She glided down smoothly from her spot and landed, bemused, at Sonic's feet as though she were about to lean over and grovel for forgiveness about doubting his love for her. Instead, she held up her fingers and prepared to tick them off one by one.

"Of course it does, mister! Look, you saved her countless times." Down went a finger. "She's confessed enough time to provide pines on a fir tree." Down went her ring finger. Rouge had no idea why she was even saying this to Sonic. If she got hold of his countless amounts of rings, she would be able to purchase all the gold in the world and he couldn't care less because he was doing her a tremendous favor. For what she would never know, unless she expected that much for a handful of sequins and package of curves.

Apparently, the same exact thing was going through Sonic's mind, accompanied by a variety of random things that Amy had given to him. A broken cord with a curl of red wire twirling out of it. A few odds and ends from her fabulously large mansion that lived in. With her amount of money, she could atleast give him a decent present every now and then, but no.

"Why are you pointing these things out to me?" Sonic asked grumpily, his voice rough. "I said I liked you, isn't that all you need to confirm it? What, should I go to a store and buy a sign proclaiming it to you?" This statement ended with a fit of coughing.

Rouge's muscles tightened. What was wrong with this man? Someone who had just revealed his affection to a person shouldn't be _snapping_ at the poor person.

"I just don't want you to be unhappy about any decisions you make from now until...whenever. It's easy to say something, but much more emotionally burdening to actually carry out the demands of what you just said, don't you think?"

"That's one smart thing you've said." The cocky hedgehog resumed his task at coughing up a storm of bacterial cells.

The bat grew enraged with the behavior of her boyfriend. "You know, it's not like you're much better, sitting here in your house almost all day BUT to see me every once in a while."

Sonic opened his mouth halfway to say something when Rouge cut him off by striking his lips with a finger.

Catching his attitude, Rouge snapped like a rubber band that had been stretched way too far for it's own good. "And don't say that you're only lying here because you're sick! I know what you do everyday when you're not because you've TOLD me! Whenever I ask you, it's always, 'Oh, nothing.' To the intelligent person, 'Oh, nothing' means that you either sit there all day on a rock doing NOTHING or you're taking part in something you don't wish to tell the other person!" With that said, Rouge retrieved her purse from the royal blue carpet, gave Sonic a resentful look that gave him a perfect reflection of the glare he had been giving her for the last few minutes, and glided out the door. On the way out, however, her wing snagged a nail on the door, ripping through a part of the purple leather.The jagged line severed a vein-like, miniscule line that snaked up the right side of her wing.

"You're lucky that it didn't catch any nerve endings," she snarled venomously. "Now I know how you drive girls away, you two-faced freak!" Measuring the length of her wound, she strutted clear out of Sonic's house, not bothering to turn.

Sonic remained silent.

-

Tails was being lowered ever-so-slowly onto a conveyer belt that run through a machine that checked him for any physical injury.

"Why would you care?" The young fox asked curiously.

Wordlessly, the scientist, donning smooth leather pants and a button-strewn red jacket, plucked a joystick down and the entire platform Tails was loosely strapped to tilted. The straps dug into Tails' legs, yet he didn't complain. Complaining was the first indication that it would be a simple task to take advantage of him through bribes, and he was used to the way Eggman's schemes work. He'd pry at your greatest desire and offer you items of great value, only to lure you into something that was worth more than item you wished for. He did, however, yell when the platform stood at a ninety-degree angle and he dangled helplessly above the strips of black by his feet. Blood rushed to his head in a torrent of liquid that accompanied the unpleasantly hard beating of his heart. Upon the realization that he had been holding his breath, Tails sucked in air and prepared himself for a drop that never came.

"Aren't you going to unbind me?"

Eggman cast Tails an amused look, seemingly waiting for Tails' ankles to snap and land him onto the conveyer belt that waited for him.

"No." This one-word answer was more irritating than his usually long, lecture-like replies.

Tails prepared another question. "What are you doing to Amy, then?" His ankle joints were under extreme pressure now. He was trying to distract himself from the excessive amounts of pain surging to his brain by asking questions, but there was only so long that he could do this.

"My, my, aren't we nosy?" Eggman's face displayed a small flicker of impatience that passed. "She's undergoing the same ordeal you are at the moment. This is a test that will amount to a result of enormous proportions. I need all the cooperation I can get," he muttered.

The mind-numbing agony broke through and Tails lashed out, wriggling insanely and trying to unlatch his feet from the confined space in which it was trapped. When he had slid from the latches for his body, it had been simple as his weight had simply pulled him down. But his feet were bound to it by arches of metal that circled around his ankles and were melted to the platform. Eggman's reappearing mascot had been branded onto the back of the sheet of metal that measured two inches in depth. "When are you going to put me onto the conveyor belt, you idiotic man-witch!" He screamed, incapable of any other way to express his feelings reasonably. He wasn't even sure what the heck a 'man-witch' might be, but as long as it got him somewhere with this torture, then he was fine with saying it.

"Calling names won't get you anywhere. Wounds made by words mean nothing to me as the harm is only mentally damaging, but the strong can always shake them off. They're nothing more than a sequence of letters, Tails. And if you must know what I'm waiting for since you won't be able to get out of this anyway, it's for your ankles to snap. That way when you fall to the conveyer belt, you won't be able to escape." Eggman's need to feel self-important was overwhelmingly high – he would never be able to forgive himself if the captives for his experiment managed to escape.

"I could crawl," Tails replied matter-of-factly, hissing his breath in and out between his teeth, his face contorted with pain. At the moment, he was seriously doubting that he could keep to his word – unless he managed to squirm all the way across the floor and perhaps reach the door at the far end of the room...

Eggman flashed Tails a scathing look as though he were willing to reach down the adolescent fox's throat and yank out his voice box if the need came to be. _He won't get away. Not until this is complete. _

With a _crack!_ that sounded suspisciously like a pair of trusted ankles being broken, Tails slid to the conveyer belt, a resonating _thump!_ filling the empty, stale air, accompanied by a shriek of agony. In fact, the entire room seemed to be engulfed in an aura of pure evil that was seemingly being emitted by Eggman himself.

_What does he want with me? I did nothing to him, it was Sonic. Sonic should be the one going through this scanning, not me. It's not my fault that I was ever in an alliance with him. _Tails' inner conscience lapsed into silence as he began to ponder about the state of his mental well being. First he was being threatened by an obese man that he would be submitted to do a "test" of "enormous proportions", which could only complicate his ideals of getting Sonic to listen to him once more. Now he was trying to frame Sonic because he didn't want to undergo such distress? Had the drop from that platform to this wretched belt been that far? It certainly seemed so, as it was affecting his brain adversely, filling it with abstract ideas that he could get out of predicaments by making sure his friends were always the ones to blame.

The boy squeezed his eyes shut, tears forming ever so slowly. _I can't cry. I can't. I don't want to hear that hostile laugh ever again...not from him. _Using his arms, he weakly attempted to lift himself up as he entered what looked like the proverbial tunnel that had that blessed light shining at the end. It wasn't as though he were devoutly religious or believed in any gateways to another world, but it became clear to him that if he decided to hang around any longer and let Eggman reign over him like a chicken over her precious eggs, he had no chance of survival.

Unlike those eggs.


	10. Taking Over

**Lightning-Dono**: Ack, sorry for not updating in so long! I completely lost interest in this story for a bit since I started playing Tales of Symphonia again. xD I apologize dearly...I also apologize for making this chapter a little too...long, drawn out, but it needs to reflect Eggman's feelings, as well as others.

--

_Feel my soul __  
As the wind takes me away__  
From you_

--

Sonic was recovering. Although he looked as though he had been sunk inside a tank of bleach and laid to dry out, everyone could still tell he was recovering. Despite the fact that his skin was flaking and had obtained the color of snow, he was actually beginning to enjoy life relaxing. But his appearance wasn't all that was on his mind as he stood before his bathroom mirror in pure dismay at his image. 

"What in the world happened to Amy?" He spat, yearning for the chance to see someone other than the random appearances Rouge made in his mind. It was as though she were slowly, cautiously haunting his fever-bitten mind. Sonic felt nothing but bitterness towards their last encounter. There was nothing between them, he now knew. Everything he imagined he had gained was slowly slipping from his grasp. Their romance was nothing but a feeble dream created by his desire to escape from a love-hungry Amy. She had no clue how much he wanted her back inside his grasp. "She always visits. _Always_." Sonic felt desperation control him as he jerked himself up from the bathroom counter he was leaning on as he inspected his pallid features. But Amy...

It was strange. Surely now the fans of her most recent single would have stirred up a decently sized commotion in protest that their most local star had vanished off the face of the earth, but no...there was definitely something wrong with this scenario. Certainly, he had heard a few comments on the news, but nothing spectacular. The only thing the reporters would say was that she must've been taking a rest from the heavy work laid on her as a singer. Sonic knew better than that – Amy would never flee. She would only disappear if there were someone preventing her from making herself known.

"I have to find her."

--

Amy had regained consciousness only a mere few moments ago after being subjected to a physical that, thankfully, had been performed by one of Eggman's robots. Clearly Eggman was up to something. Even in her hazy thoughts as the sedative drug in her system wore out, she had figured out this much. There was no other reason Eggman would hang her upside down, strapped to a metal platform by the ankles with an answer for his actions as, "I'm simply testing your wills."

Now she found herself inside a room on her own, alone in her misery as she tried to find a way out. Her hammer remained no where to be seen, but that was typical Eggman. He enjoyed having the upper hand in tense situations and it was no surprise that he would confiscate anything that would harm his plan in any way.

Then again, Eggman had disarmed them of a handy tool either way. She now lacked the ability to walk properly without being in immense pain. Even now as she shifted her awry position on the steel floor, pain shot up from the base of her feet, shocking her senses. But all through these years of over-protectively looking after Sonic, it had endowed her with a special ability that Amy found to be rather handy. Her persistence and vigilance would be the key to Eggman's destruction, but first she needed to recover her intuition as to where Tails was.

The walls that surrounded her was presumably fabric with a network of wiring beneath. This allowed Eggman's systems to calculate her condition by speculating her body heat when she touched it and it also let the strategic genius know exactly when to make his move. He had expected her, supposedly being the weaker one of the two he had caught, to lean against the wall and give in to the ache provided by her feet and the mind set that she would never get out. However, he was quite wrong. Instead of calmly accepting her fate, Amy was beyond petrified by the current situation.

"Stupid Eggman! Why does he do things like this?" Amy raged as she tore at the nearest wall, fingernails searing through her gloves. Tears engulfed her eyes and spilled down her cheeks uncontrollably. Her gloves had torn and now she clawed madly at the wall, bearing the look of a rabid dog as she cleverly managed to cut through the cheap fabric. Bringing together her hands at the rip, she pulled the covering apart, only to be confused by what she was presented with. This revealed a bedding of stiff wiring that was rapidly sending currents of data to Eggman's main computer. Amy couldn't have cared less what those darn wires did.

Amy sank back to the ground, resting weakly on her legs, her dress tattered and ripped. All anger that had surged through her previously was gone. How would she get out of this? Eggman was just too inventive for her to take. Putting a fragile cover over the wires to make her think she could get out, and when she thought she had finally succeeded, stump her with another problem. This was far from over.

_Eggman, I'll get you for this. You and your sick games with everyone...why do you do such cruel things? You know you can't win. Everything you plan is just another trap, but you'll run out of ideas someday and when you do, my friends and I will be there to set you right. _

--

There were data readings from Amy's part of the robot flashing back and forth on the screen before Eggman. The genius was sitting there, giddily bouncing up and down, looking as though he might float up and rise through the top of his own gargantuan creation.

"Now that you're awake...let's see what you have in store for me, Amy." His nimble fingers that had grown relatively used to the standard keyboard typed in a few words. Using his index finger, Eggman dramatically pressed the "Enter" key and two windows appeared on the screen, adjacent to each other. One contained a camera shot of Amy sitting there with half the wall she was facing torn apart looking devastated. Eggman took a small amount of joy from this, but somehow the mere picture of suffering no longer pleased him. He wanted much more. He needed to have power over his hostages.

The second window contained controls for a crane that remained hidden above the poor girl. Grinning deviously to no one in particular, he forged an older window from the bottom of the screen that had the reading of her statistics. At current, her body heat was a little over normal, her breathing rate was a slow, drawn out breath every two seconds. That was good enough for him, he would need to be gentle with the crane on her to preserve her physical well being. That single factor would be the difference between failure and regaining his position as number one on the list of most formidable villain. Of course, there was also the pleasing idea that he would terrorize so many innocent people. After he had surrendered to Sonic some time before and went into hiding, people had been slighting his name and making him look like a fool. Although he did admit that it was foolish to give up to someone he had sworn to be his enemy, they had no reason to poke fun. Now he would get revenge against those that had abused his identity and made him out to be someone who would shrink at the very thought of violence. How untrue that was.

He had successfully transferred a struggling Tails into his proper position inside the robot – the very hood. That was where he would perform the most dangerous experiment yet, and if it failed, there was no hope left for neither Eggman nor the vulnerable fox. Eggman only had one Chaos Emerald left in his possession, and whatever he did with it had to be would have to follow through with no flaws. Besides, with the deceptive tricks he had planned, how could fail?

With the flair of a ballet dancer, Eggman twirled around in his chair and allowed the crane to descend upon Amy.

--

Her ankles were sore and on her face she wore a distraught look. Amy had managed to calm down considerably, but it wasn't because she was having fun marveling at the complicated network of cords. She was completely and utterly consumed with worry for Tails.

"Why the long face, Amy?" Came a cocky voice from somewhere above her head. It sounded so sickeningly familiar, but she didn't want to believe it. She threw her head back to see Sonic hanging from an inactive apparatus on the ceiling, grinning at her.

"Sonic?" Amy whispered softly, her voice cracking. "Why? How?"

Sonic didn't bother providing an explanation, but his blase attitude kicked in. "Heh, it's all the same from Eggman." He shook his head in exasperation. "But enough of that. We should get out of here, Amy." The alluring blue hedgehog extended a hand towards Amy, who was watching it lower warily.

"Why did you come?"

"You think I wouldn't come to save you?" A slight, offended look appeared on his face.

Amy beamed at him and reached up with a shaking hand to take his.

His grip was like steel. In that very instant, Sonic's image fizzled out of sight and was replaced by the iron hand clamped around her wrist. Eggman's taunting voice, seemingly amplified a hundred times, rang through the room, stating, "You didn't _really_ think Sonic could get in, did you?" It reverberated throughout the entire room, wrangling Amy's conscience. _I was tricked. How could I even believe Sonic would come to save me?_ Through an unbearable amount of anger, tears returned to her bright emerald orbs.

"And now, you will be lifted to your destruction!" The voice continued, followed up by a mechanical whirring emitting from the crane as it pulled Amy from her stationary position in midair to the very top level of the robot. It was domed, giving a very pleasant view of the woods that encircled it. Such an ethereal setting for a place that only brought agony to innocent beings. One look around her confirmed her worries – Tails was already up here, kicking and apparently screaming, but not a sound could be heard. He was bound inside a capsule that was glowing exotically. The rounded structure he was contained in was connected to a heavily protected platform in the middle of the room, which contained the single, diamond-like Chaos Emerald.

"TAILS!" Amy shrieked. "Can you get out of there?"

Instead of Tails' childish voice replying, Eggman's raspy vocals filled the room, "No, he can't. And neither will you once I get you inside one."

The crane lowered Amy into another capsule, which sealed itself shut almost as she made contact with it. Cables, three exactly, snaked around her body as she tried to kick open the opening. "Let me out of here!" She screamed fiercely.

Eggman emerged through a door that was concealed neatly off to the side of her capsule, wearing a smirk on his face that could predict nothing but horrors for the two of them.

"Are you screaming for help? Because I can't hear you," Eggman said to an aghast Tails and an Amy who looked like if she had been able to get out, she would have lifted up the entire capsule and hurled it at his head. "It's soundproof, as long with this entire dome. Those on the outside of this robot won't hear a thing, and soon...they won't see anything, either." With the flick of a switch, the view of the outer world vanished beneath a cover of metal. "Let me explain myself while you two are still conscious. And this time...No one can interrupt me." He paused here to theatrically cackle, much like a witch before stewing a helpless toad. "As you can see, I've gathered you both here for a reason that's beyond what you will ever be able to come up with. I've managed to find something while I was in hiding that will change what remains of your lives and the lives of others forever.

What did I find you might ask? I had discovered a species of animal that, until now, has been unknown to those with the average eye. Anyone wish to venture a guess as to what I found?"

Tails' spoke, but his reply was mute to the world.

"This is what I found, and with this, I can take over the world!" He held up a transparent jar that, from what Amy and Tails could see, was filled with nothing. "Within this jar is a parasitic bacterium that raided this land over a hundred years ago. This creature, in particular, carried the ability to take over the mind and body when under the right influence. This influence is by taking in the DNA of a certain person and living of a certain person and living off of it for a correct amount of time, which happens to be two years."

_Two years,_ Tails realized, his mind racing fervently. _Exactly the amount of time since he went into hiding._

"For the past two years when I came across these creatures in an ancient relic, I have been feeding them off of my mustache hairs." Despite her current predicament, Amy's lips twitched into a smile. Eggman didn't notice. "They don't need much - they can live off of one strand for months and months. And when they have done this, they are able to understand the thoughts of the person just from reading their DNA pattern. The influence, once created, can last for over a decade. During that time, they will take over a living form and force them under control. What happens when the parasite has gotten them under control? They will begin to make the person act under my command, so long as the parasite isn't somehow flushed out of the system. From where I stand, it's a little hard to flush something out of your skull."

_Eggman, you sadistic bastard._

"I have only managed to gather about twenty-five of this specimen. That's why you are here today – to power the Chaos Emerald to help me multiply them!" He placed the jar inside the machine on the far end of the room that branched off of the Chaos Emerald's holder.

"Then I can take over the world."


	11. Taking Action

**Lightning-Dono**: Next chapter! Sorry, but I need to switch between chapters from Rouge and Sonic to Amy, Tails, and Eggman. This one is a **Rouge and Sonic** chapter. Even though this seems like a mere side story, the Rouge and Sonic part of the story is a turning point. Sonic is so...romantic in this thing. And so...dull. I apologize...

Oh, and what Knuckles says about women...I'm a girl, so...I'm not trying to be offensive.

--

_Walking away a thousand steps _

_Taking a step back_

_To look at what_

_I had left behind_

--

Rouge's life was falling apart, more or less. She had gone through what she had with struggling to meet up with Knuckles for a while...except after their break up, he had seemingly refused to ever lay eyes on her face again. Even now, every night when she buried her face into a pillow that steadily gained a pungent smell from its intake of tears, images from that day still flashed vividly in her mind. There were the images she woke up to as she shot up from her bed in the cramped apartment room, and these were the visions that she fell asleep to as she collided with her bed.

-

Flashback 

-

_"You don't understand anything, do you?" Came the shrieking of a moderately low female voice. _

_Rouge and Knuckles had just paid their bill after eating heartily at a restaurant. The hearty part was more in the eating, however, as conversation has failed when Knuckles had been presented with a slab of meat that was bigger than what he had pictured as he had stared at the menu prior to ordering. As much as the stunned bat tried to divert his attention from a lifeless piece of cow, he continued to chop it into uneven pieces and proceeded to ignore her. Perhaps it had been the fact that she had been starving and horrified that the chefs were taking so long with her order, but even so, she was beyond irritated. Just watching him pay more attention to something that couldn't have been less attractive made Rouge find his very image repulsive. _

_And what was more, Knuckles hadn't tipped the incredibly sympathetic waiter that him a smile that could've literally melted hearts as he spouted the fact that the kitchen had run out of chicken. All her life, Rouge believed in practicing proper etiquette, and that meant tipping the waiters and waitresses at restaurants that toiled away in steaming restaurants at the whim of restless consumers and merciless bosses. By the time Knuckles had gotten up to the front desk to pay the bill, graciously treating her and using his own money to do so, Rouge had resolved to scream until what was visible of his ears fell off...once they exited the restaurant. _

_"What do you mean? I just treated you to dinner and now you're going to stand here and yell at me?" Shouted a disbelieving Knuckles, who hadn't bothered to even question Rouge on what was irking her. "God, woman, you're even more frustrating than Eggman!"_

_Rouge's temperature reached boiling point, as did her blood._

_"You didn't even pay attention to me during the span of time we were in that place! And what's more, I didn't even want to go there! You just dragged me there under the pretense that it had 'good food'! You know that ravioli I had? It tasted like something any hobo could dig out of a trash can!" Tears provided a misty cover for her eyes, but she fought them back. Rouge wasn't going to let Knuckles gawk at her tears in the middle of a street crowded with interested civilians. It was a bustling city, but a scene bearing the severity of this was uncommon. _

_The feisty red echidna growled in the most monstrous tone he could utter from his throat. "You're just saying that, you greedy hag. I buy you dinner and then you start to question my taste in food and whom I should be paying attention to?"_

_"You couldn't even spare a few dollars as tip for the waiter!"_

_Those words that had just slipped off her tongue proved to be a mistake. Knuckles had caught on. His eyes narrowed to the point that they were mere slits on his face, eyeing her malevolently. The words he then said stung like flames from hell and scorched Rouge's heart._

_"You're just like all of those other girls, you know that? Everything to you is just a game. You're with me, but all you can think about is that 'awesomely handsome' waiter back there, right? Well, I'll tell you what. I'm not like all of those other clueless guys out there that fall and crumble in the face of all the crap women like you have to give. If you want a weakling like that who'll just stand by and watch you destroy their lives and turn them inside out, you can look for someone else." Knuckles' eyes flared open. "And if you wanted to give him tip so badly, you would've spared some of that money from that wallet of yours! I'm sure you have plenty of money...you're just using me." _

_There was an intense silence in which Rouge was groping around for words mentally, feeling completely out of place. All of her confidence had fluttered away and she couldn't grasp it and bring it all back. She had to stand there feebly as bystanders stared back and forth between the two of them, expecting her to retaliate with a slap. She wouldn't sink that low. Slaps were for people who felt so insecure with words that they had to resort to physical violence in order to regain their high stand. _

_"Nothing to say?" _

_She had never hated that man so much. _

_"I've always been dead to you, haven't I?" Rouge wailed in the most out-of-character way with obscenely large tears sliding slowly down her cheeks. She furiously brushed them out of the way, but that only made way for more as she squeezed them out by blinking. "I could tell! Every time I was around you, you'd be so indifferent! Everything about you changed when I got into your range of vision. You never did love me!" _

_Knuckles frowned in his quarter turn to dramatically walk out of her life. Instead, he felt the need to explain. _

_"Rouge, you know I wouldn't be with you if I didn't even love you to begin with."_

_"Oh yeah? Prove it." _

_"Can't you tell?" He tried to keep the despair out of his voice. Instead, he dropped it a notch on the volume scale and stepped precisely three steps closer to Rouge. "I've never been attached to anything else but Chaos Emeralds. But you grew on me – your independent nature was what made me like you. I've never met a girl so strong and willing. You would do almost anything to get what you wanted, and if it didn't happen, you could always find the energy to try again." _

_The tears that had melted away into Rouge's hair, clinging like dewdrops to her fair grayer strands, had returned. _

_Refusing to notice, Knuckles turned his head away to lay his eyes on a shadow cast by a streetlight pole. _

_"Even in love, I could NEVER get close to anything!" He suddenly raged, slamming his fists into the pole, creating a mere dent in the iron that had endeavored the force of something close to two oxen battering each other at the same time. "Not even you! And look where that got me!" _

_"But why couldn't you? If you truly loved me, why not?" Rouge spluttered, standing as rigid as the pole Knuckles had just struck. _

_"You could never understand," Knuckles breathed, grasping the pole for support. "I have never dealt with people in excess, as you will understand. I have always indulged myself in my duty, guarding the Master Emerald. That's the only thing I have ever attached myself to before you came along and seduced me into a freaking helpless **thing**!" Mortified by his own words, he struggled to keep his voice under control. "When I was around you, I felt something I had never felt before. It was like...like the feeling you get when you've lost something and recovered it again. And now, I've lost that feeling." He feigned a faint smile. "But atleast you know I really did love you during that time we spent together."_

_With that, he turned and walked away. _

_As the crowd around them dispersed, Rouge fell from her spot, collapsing to the cold cement that countless people have treaded, probably none as heartbroken as she was now. She could never hold onto a man steadily. All she ever was to them was a target for lust as they stared at her physique rather than into her soul. Knuckles was the one person who she thought had seen beyond that outer shell that she haunted, but she had been wrong. _

_From the shadows beyond the sheet of light that the streetlights held in their grasp emerged a spiky figure with eyes that shone with newfound promise. His pearly white-gloved hands cradled her body, rocking her back and forth as he brought her to her feet. A voice that was raspy from lack of use whispered into her ear._

_"What's wrong?" _

_Even through her tears and discontented feelings that arose in block her throat, she noted that Sonic was the owner of this voice. As he released her, the warmth of his body continued to linger in the imprints he had made around her shoulders as he had caressed her. _

_"Every single thing," Rouge blubbered into her hands, unable to show her weeping face to the rest of the world. "My life is a total wreck."_

_Sonic, surprisingly, seemed untouched by this statement. "Ssh," came the whoosh of air that rushed through his clenched teeth. "No one's perfect. You seem so perplexed...and beyond that. Now tell me what's wrong." _

_"Knuckles d-dumped me." Knuckles had never been this dreamy and caring...she felt comforted slightly as she stood before Sonic, hands clasped around her nose and mouth, containing every breath she released in them. _

_"Why?" _

_"Being his girlfriend...was so much more than I had bargained for. I expected him to be strong and open. Instead, he cooped up everything inside his puny little heart and decided to retreat back inside himself. He loved me so much and he d-didn't t-tell me until it was too l-late!" _

_To her surprise, Sonic felt his way around her and was wrapping her in a hug that simply pressed what breath she had left in her body out. _

_"Don't worry...you don't need Knuckles anymore...Because now you have me." _

_In the shadows, beyond the area that the streetlights commanded, a possessive pink hedgehog was keeping a watchful eye over the entire situation. _

_"Sonic...even when you have someone like me..." _

-

End Flashblack 

-

To compete with her sorrow was also the idea that Amy had somehow vanished off somewhere with no clues as to her whereabouts. But even with that feeling of happiness, it was completely overshadowed by her encompassing feeling of rejection. How much would she have to compete with before she collapsed and gave up?

But remembering that moment made her realize that now she had to repay Sonic for what comfort he had brought into and provided her in moments of need. Rouge needed to do what she dreaded most – facing the one she had left behind not so long ago and apologizing for the hurt she had inflicted.

-

Sonic pulled on his shoes, plucking at the ends to allow them to feet snugly around his feet. Tucking the buckle in securely, he clicked his toes a few times to make sure that his shoes were in running condition. Without hesitation, he turned the door knob and he was out. He needed to go get Amy.

He needed to tell her what had really happened.


End file.
